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Foraging for Food with Fi Bird at Edinburgh Book Festival – 2 Tickets to giveaway

August 7, 2013 By Rachel Leave a Comment

Join author, experienced forager and cook, Fi Bird for a kids event at Edinburgh Book Festival. I have 2 tickets to giveaway for the children’s foraging and cooking session on Tuesday 13th August.
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Regardless of whether you live in a city, the countryside or by the coast, Fi will explain foraging for food to children, aged 7 – 10. Supper can be off the land, in other words, free not bought. Fi will demonstrate how to create culinary delights with a selection of the delicious ingredients she has foraged from the wild. Kids will learn the rules of foraging where to forage, when to forage, how to forage and will be amazed at the variety of free food available.

AS a mother of 6, author, and past finalist on the BBC television series Masterchef, Fi has always had a passion for cooking and foraging. She is self taught with an approach to food, based on knowledge of tight budgets and limited time. Dividing her time between the glens of rural Angus and the Outer Hebridean island of South Uist, Fi teaches cookery in primary schools and also finds time to campaign for healthier diets and to write for newspapers and magazines.

Fi’s book, The Foragers Kitchen

Her latest book, The Foragers Kitchen, has over 100 recipes and if you follow Fi’s advice you will find more ingredients growing in the wild than you could ever imagine.

The book is beautifully illustrated and has over 100 recipes

Details for the cookery session

Foraging for Food with Fi Bird
Age 7-10
Tuesday 13th August
10:00am – 11:00am
Baillie Gifford Imagination Lab.

Tickets are priced at £4.50

Ticket Giveaway.
The giveaway is for 2 tickets to the above session and the winner will be contacted on Friday 9th August. Winners details will be passed to Fi Bird to ensure entry to the event. To take part follow and RT this post on twitter.

The Edinburgh book festival takes place from 10 – 26th August, Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh (at the west end of George Street, a minute away from Princess Street). For additional information visit www.edbookfest

Sma’ Shot Cottages, Paisley

June 19, 2013 By Rachel Leave a Comment

You will be forgiven for thinking that you are stepping back in time when you arrive at the Sma’ Shot Cottages garden in Paisley. Hidden away in a quiet lane, close to Paisley town centre, this is little gem of a garden. Access to the garden is gained through the weavers cottage and visitors are immediately given a flavour of Paisley in the 18th century.

‘Stepping back in time’

Owned and run by the Old Paisley Society,the small charming courtyard garden is neatly sandwiched between the cottages, but what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for with delightful character, history and charm. Designed to celebrate the 21st anniversary of Sma’ Shot Cottages the planting of the various raised beds in the garden reflects the type of plants that would have been common around the 19th century.

Sma’ Shot Cottages hidden gem

Two of the raised beds are appropriately constructed in the shape of the ‘Paisley Pattern’, the twisted teardrop shape pattern that the town of Paisley and the Paisley shawl is famous for. Planted with a mix of plants for spring and summer colour, this small garden is an ideal spot to enjoy some moments of peace and tranquility.

‘ Paisley patterned shaped beds’

The 19th century planting scheme in the raised beds includes geraniums, peonies, astilbes and hostas with the exception of the ‘Sma’ Shot Viola, created especially for the 21st anniversary by the cottages gardening advisor, Hugh Boyd.

Another container, planted with Dainthus, ‘Paisley Gem’ is always in full boom for ‘Sma’ Shot Day’ which is celebrated in Paisley every year on the first Saturday in July.
‘Dianthus Paisley Gem’ will flower on Sma’ Shot Day

Paisley is famous for it’s textile industry and indeed the cottages are named after the Sma’ Shot, which was a binding thread essential in the weaving of the paisley shawl.
Visitors to the cottage complex and the garden are given a real sense of the towns textile history and a reminder of this is the grand ‘Ferguslie Mill’ bell that was given pride of place in the courtyard in 1997.

Pride of place for the restored ‘Ferguslie Bell’

The garden will be open as part of Scotland’s Gardens on Sunday 23rd June, 12:00pm – 4:00pm. Admission is £2. There is full disabled access and teas will be served.

Accord hospice will receive 40% of the proceeds with the remaining to Scotland’s Gardens.

Eating seasonally and a special treat of Scottish tomatoes

May 16, 2013 By Rachel Leave a Comment

Wednesday is delivery day for my organic veg bag and usually means I’ll plan food for the days ahead with the seasonal vegetables for that week. As the seasons change I find myself getting quite excited at the thought of what’s included as I rarely know the contents in advance.

As we move from the winter months into spring there’s a gradual change in the vegetables, moving from then arthy robust swedes, parsnips, winter cabbages, to tomatoes, courgettes, spring greens, spinach, asparagus and new potatoes.

Although there’s always the old favourites such as carrots and broccoli that get cooked every week, it’s nice to start thinking about some lighter dishes to cook.

This week is Fresh Week, launched by Tefal as a celebration of fresh food and healthy eating so it’s seems a good time to be writing about fresh seasonal food. There are lots of recipes for fresh ingredients on the Tefal website www.Tefalfreshexpress.co.uk/FreshWeek and you can also take the pledge to give up processed food for the week.

Letting the seasons dictate what I cook is something I enjoy enormously. It’s not just vegetables that signal the changing seasons, the range of meat, fish and game changes and there’s something very satisfying with going with what’s available. It’s such a great way to shop. The rhythm of my food shopping week is the veg bag delivery on a Wednesday followed by a farmers market on a Saturday and maybe even a Sunday.

The past few weeks there’s been plum tomatoes in the delivery but the highlight of a trip to Glasgow farmers market last weekend was undoubtedly Clyde Valley Tomatoes following the recent revival of the the Scottish tomato industry by partners David Craig and Scott Robertson.

Having followed their story since they began the venture last year, it was a real joy to see the tomatoes finally on sale. And shoppers were not disappointed. It was obviously a fantastic sensory experience, sight, touch, smell, and a taste of tomatoes that tasted like I remembered from childhood. It was also great to see so many varieties available, freshly picked and having travelled only 25 miles to market. Cucumbers were also available, and immediately two dishes came to mind. Tomato and cucumber raita to accompany Saturday night’s curry and a Greek salad with a Scottish twist for Sunday lunch.

A vibrant display of tomatoes at Partick Farmers market

Tomato and cucumber raita

130g mixed tomatoes chopped
50g cucumber chopped
200ml Greek Yoghurt.
2 tbsp chopped mint
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper.

Mix the tomatoes and cucumber with the yoghurt. Stir in the mint and cumin. together and season to taste. Tip into a serving bowl and sprinkle with cayenne and pepper.

Greek Salad

4 large tomatoes
Half a cucumber
1 red onion
Black olives ..I use a small pack with about 20 olives.
Block of Feta Cheese
Herbs….fresh…Oregano is good but sometimes I use basil.

Dressing.
I used Summer Harvest rapeseed oil and bramble vinegar, a real favourite of mine
50 ml rapeseed oil
15 ml bramble vinegar
Freshly Ground black pepper and sea salt flakes.

Chop the tomatoes and cucumber into bite size chunks, slice the red onion thinly, add the olives and crumble over the Feta Cheese.
Combine the dressing ingredients and mix through the salad. Scatter the herbs on top, drizzle with some more olive oil and season to taste.

You can find out more about the revival of the Scottish tomato industry and Clyde Valley Tomatoes from www.clyde-valley.co.uk
More information on the bramble vingegar and rapeseed oil can be found at www.summerharvestoils.co.uk

Bacon Connoisseurs Week

March 22, 2013 By Rachel Leave a Comment

This week is ‘Bacon Connoisseurs Week’ and that means its time to celebrate a real British favourite, the bacon sandwich. And celebrate we have, not a day has passed this week that there’s not been a chef cooking bacon on TV. The Sunday Brunch programme on channel 4 had a ‘Baconologist’ to enlighten the nation on facts about one of their favourite foods. According to a UK Food Network survey, bacon takes the top spot in Britain’s top 100 foods and the bacon sandwich remains popular when we’re eating out with 324 million being sold last year.

What can be said about a bacon sandwich that you don’t already know. We all have our own favourite way of cooking bacon, and we are quite particular about how we like it served, something I’ve learned this week from numerous tweets I’ve received.

Bacon on a roll with tomato ketchup or brown sauce say some. Bread, butter and bacon……nothing else required say others. When it’s served like that there’s something else that makes it special for me, the roll must be warm. Nothing worse than lovely hot bacon in a cold roll.

Of course favourites extend to the type of bacon we have in our sandwich or roll and you only have to peruse the shelves of the supermarkets to see that the bacon industry is a huge part of the British food market. Bacon is a £1.37 billion industry with consumers purchasing 226.9k tonnes per year. That’s a lot of rashers and a lot of pigs.

Bacon has had some bad press recently with a few health warnings being attached, but given the sales figures I suspect it will remain a firm favourite with British consumers. My view…..everything in moderation and always buy the best food you can afford.

What I have learned is that not all bacon is the same and I do like nice bacon. This week I was fortunate to sample some locally produced bacon from Allan and Susan Steele of The Lochbyre Rare Breed Meat Company. They run a small holding just south of Glasgow and rear two kinds of native rare breed pigs, the Gloucester Old Spot and the British Saddleback.

A happy and contented pig at Lochbyre

At lochbyre,the pigs spend their lives outdoors, free to roam, to grow and develop naturally and as a result Allan and Susan produce great flavoursome meat which they sell at the various farmers markets they attend in the Lanarkshire and Glasgow area.

Delicious looking streaky and back bacon from Lochbyres Gloucester Old Black spot pigs

It would be wrong to have Bacon Connoisseurs week and not have a bacon sandwich. I decided to do something different with the Lochbyre bacon as after all it was called ‘connoisseurs week’ and you can have a bacon roll any day of the week. This was special bacon and deserved to be treated as such.

I made a healthy bacon sandwich, meaning that as well as some very tasty bacon you also include some other really nutritious foods, making the sandwich a reasonably balanced meal.

A healthy bacon sandwich

For 2 sandwiches you need :-
6 Rashers of Lochbyre Gloucester Old Spot dry cure bacon.
2 thick slices of sourdough bread
2 thick slices of sourdough bread
Small tub of cream cheese
Handful of spinach leaves
2 tomatoes sliced
1 avocado sliced
I use a griddle to cook bacon but cook to your own preference. I also like to cook the tomato slices for a minute, just enough to warm them through.

Either lightly toast the bread or brush with oil and place on a hot griddle toasting for a minute on each side.

Spread the bread with cream cheese, top with spinach leaves, warmed tomatoes, sliced avocado and the bacon rashers.

Delicious and healthy

The Gloucester Old Spot bacon I used for this recipe was supplied by Lochbyre Rare Breed Meat Company. Full details of the meats and others products available can be found at www.lochbyrerarebreedmeat.co.uk.

For details of farmers markets attended by Lochbyre go to www.lanarkshirefarmersmarkets.co.uk

Further information and facts on British Bacon from www.lovepork.co.uk

British Pie Week and a new look for Acanthus Pies

March 8, 2013 By Rachel 1 Comment

It’s British Pie Week and that means it’s time to celebrate the country’s love affair with the humble pie. Meat pies have always been popular with the British, hot, cold, small or large, there’s a pie to suit every taste. A pie can be a part of meal or a snack and for me you can’t beat the great old classic the British pork pie or a savoury cold cutting pie.

Earlier this year I wrote about ‘Acanthus Handmade Pies’ award winning pies made by Perthshire based producer Robert Corrigan and one thing I have learned on my pie journey is that the proof is in the pie when it comes to fillings. There is nothing nicer than a handmade cold cutting pie made with good quality ingredients.

At that time Acanthus pies were in the process of rebranding and now there’s a new identity, renamed as ‘Mr.Cs Handcrafted Award Winning Pies’. The pies have fantastic new look, colourful labelling and hand wrapped in waxed paper all perfectly reflecting Robert’s strong Scottish roots.

Mr.Cs new eye catching logo

There are several award winning pies in Mr.Cs Handcrafted range, all made with quality meats from some of Scotland’s best small producers. Production started in 2010 and 2011 saw the first award, a gold at the British Pie Awards for the pork pancetta and leek pie. It was no surprise a year later when the Chicken and Ham won a bronze award at the 2012 Scotch Pie awards.

The delicious chicken and ham pie

2013 has proved to be a fantastic year so far for Mr Cs pies. At the Scotch Pie Awards, The ‘Game Pie’ won a Diamond award and the McLean trophy for the best savoury in the 9 Diamond awards category.

There was a Gold award for the Scottish Breakfast pie, pork with streaky bacon, mushrooms, an organic egg with tomato juice added to the jelly, a deliciously different breakfast treat. This was also the pie that was used to launch last years Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight.

The delicious 2013 Gold Award winning ‘Scottish Breakfast Pie at the launch of last years Scottish Food Fortnight.

The aptly named ‘Piggie Black Pie‘, pork with Robert’s pancetta and leek mix layered with black pudding on the top and bottom layers won a bronze award.

The delightfully named award winning ‘Piggy Black Pie’

A more recent addition is the Haggis, Neeps and Tatties pie, seen here with Hardeep Singh Kohl, launching this years Scotland food and drink excellence awards.

Well known tv presenter and comic,Hardeep Singh Khol launches the 2013 Scotland Food and Drink Excellence Awards with Mr.Cs haggis neeps and tatties pie.
Photograph by Rob McDougall & Taste Communications.

Ingredients for the range of Mr.Cs pies are sourced with quality in mind, Shipton Mill organic flour for pastry, Scottish outdoor bred pork from Ramsays of Carluke and wild venison from Highland Game.

Robert also produces a range of bespoke Pies for some of Scotland’s high end deli’s, food and farm shops. Crombies in Edinburgh stock the chicken and ham pie along with the traditional pork pie.

Lochbyre Rare Breed Meat from Lanarkshire have pork and savoury pork pies made with their rare breed pork and these are available at the weekly Lanarkshire Farmers Markets.

For those of us who shop for quality food products on line, Peelham Farm (www.peelham.co.uk) stock a ruby veal and ham pie with wholegrain mustard and a wonderful mutton and capers Pie, all made to the same exacting standard with meats produced on their own farm.

The individual pies are normally 500g, although the six fillings are also available in French style moulds in 1.75kg and 1.85kg. The larger sizes are ideal for parties and buffets and are also popular at game shoots.

Mr.Cs is recognised as one of the best when it come to handcrafted cold cutting pies. There’s no point in comparing the pies to any of the mass produced supermarket pies,no matter how handmade they attempt to make them look. Mr.Cs pies are in a class of their own, handmade with good quality local ingredients with care and commitment through every stage. The finished product as you can see from the pictures look outstanding.

Robert and his apprenticie Ollie proudly showing off their awards at the 2013 Scotch Pie Awards.

Stockists

Lochbyre Rare Breed Meat Company. www.lochbyrerarebreedmeat.co.uk and Lanarkshire Farmers Markets.

Donald Russell of Inverurie www.donaldrussel.com

Crombies of Edinburgh www.sausages.co.uk

Hopetoun Farm Shop www.hopetoun.co.uk

Cornerstone Deli in Blairgowrie

The Wee Pie Company in Glencarse .www.theweepiecompany.co.uk

Peelham Farm ( on line and at Farmers Markets) www.peelham.co.uk

Loch Leven Larder www.lochlevenslarder.com

Gloaggburn Farm Shop www.gloagburnfarmshop.co.uk

For further information on British Pie Week, recipes and tips on making pies see www.jusrol.co.uk

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Cooking your own…local produce…Shepherds pie

February 21, 2013 By Rachel Leave a Comment

The mince theme continues on the blog, appropriate I think given that much of the meat involved in the horsemeat scandal has been in products containing minced meat. For me there’s a clear message for us all ….cook your own food with produce you can trust from local producers or your local butcher.

Most of the meat I buy comes from Farmers Markets where I can talk to the producers and it’s really interesting to hear their news and also pick up tips for cooking. It’s the same at my local butcher, he’s happy to chat about his suppliers and usually asks what I’m cooking and will very often offer cheaper cuts of meat. The lamb I used for this shepherds pie came from Lochbyre Rare Breed Meat and their flock of Sheltland Soay sheep. It has a good strong flavour and is quite lean compared with other lamb mince I have used.

Shepherds Pie was traditionally made with the leftover meat from Sundays roast and would be served up for dinner on Monday. The meat would be minced and my mother talks of also using leftover vegetables by mincing them with the meat to make the base for the pie. If I’m lucky enough to have leftover meat it’s how I like to make shepherds pie but in the absence cooked meat I use minced lamb.

This is real tasty comfort food and I’ve been making this recipe for 30 years and to be honest it’s never really changed much. When the boys were small they loved it with baked beans but as they’ve got older I serve it with whatever seasonal vegetables are available.

Real tasty comfort food

Ingredients.

Filling

500g Minced Lamb

1 large onion, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

6 medium size mushrooms

100 ml Tomato ketchup

1 tsp Mustard

1 beef stock cubes. (The recipe also works well with Kallo French onion stock cubes)

Salt and black pepper to season

Topping

450g potatoes

4 Tbsp Fresh breadcrumbs.

2 – 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary leaves removed.

Heat a large deep sauté pan, add the minced lamb, break up any lumps with a spatula and continue cooking until the mince is browned. If necessary drain the mince to remove excess fat, returning and meat juices to the mince.

Return the mince to the pan, add the onion and carrot continue cooking for approx 5 minutes.add the tomato ketchup and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the mustard, crumble in the stock cubes and add approximately 200ml water.

Cover and cook for 30 minutes, remove the lid and continue cooking for about 20 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce and thicken.

Meanwhile prepare the potato topping, cook the potatoes until tender,drain and mash with the creme fraiche or natural yoghurt.

Finally chop the rosemary leaves and mix with the breadcrumbs.

Spoon the filling into a …casserole, top with the potatoes and use the back of a fork to smooth over. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top, place in the oven and bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until piping hot and the top is golden.

For further information on Lochbyre rare breed meat see …. www.lochbyrerarebreedmeat.co.uk and Lanarkshirefarmersmarkets.wordpress.com

Supporting local farmers….Greek Lasagne made with lamb mince

January 27, 2013 By Rachel Leave a Comment

January has been declared a month for mince recipes on ‘Aweepinchofsugar’ and I’ve been cooking dishes using different types of mince. This recipe for Greek Lasagne, made with lamb mince is a welcome change of flavour from the Italian version I regularly make.

As a supporter of local farmers and food producers it is always Scottish lamb for me and my butcher was happy to mince some lamb shoulder for this recipe. However you may live elsewhere but wherever that is please support your local farmers, particularly at a time where supermarkets are stocking foreign lamb over home reared produce.

Greek salad and a glass of red wine….all you need for a delicious relaxing meal

750g Minced lamb

1.5 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 medium red onion finely chopped

4 garlic cloves crushed or finely chopped

I finely grated carrot

6cm piece of Cinnamon stick

3 tsp dried oregano

2 400g tins chopped tomatoes

4 tbsp tomato purée

2tsp tapenade

Large glass of white wine.

14oz Macaroni pasta

Topping

200ml Natural yoghurt

75g Mature Cheddar grated

75g Feta Cheese crumbled

1 large egg

Pre heat oven to 190c/170c fan

Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large sauté pan, add the onion and cook for approx 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and continue cooking for about 1 minute.

Increase the heat, add the lamb and cook until browned. I like to drain off the fat at this stage as it makes the finished dish less greasy.

Add the tomato purée, stir to mix well with the lamb and continue cooking for 2 – 3 minutes, then add the tapenade and oregano, season and mix well.

Add the tinned tomatoes and half fill the can with the white wine and add to the pan, stir well and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes. Add the grated carrot and cook for a further 10-15 minutes.

During the last 15 minutes of the lamb cooking, cook the macaroni according to the instructions on the packet.

Topping

Beat the egg and add to the yoghurt along with half of the cheese.

Layer half of the macaroni into a deep oven proof dish, followed by a layer of lamb mince.Repeat with a second layer of each and spread with the yoghurt topping and scatter with the remainder of the cheeses .

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until bubbling and lightly browned.

Blackface Sheep with Ben Cruachan in the background

Salad and bread are all you need to make this a delicious meal.

My thanks once again to Alice Strange at Potiki.com for permission to reproduce her artwork in this post.

TheChristmas Dinner Countdown

December 8, 2012 By Rachel Leave a Comment

Over the past few weeks I have read the Christmas edition of several food and women’s magazines and as expected preparations for the big day are top bill.

Most have timetables, starting at 0000 hrs…switch the oven on…stuff the turkey….prep the sprouts…turn the oven up, the oven down…take a break and have champagne with friends….back to the kitchen, turn the sprouts on, steam the Christmas pudding. Part of the timetable usually includes and hour if you’re lucky…..’Time to Relax’ for some it should read….have a lie down. Over the years that became the reality of the glossy timetables for me, tied to the kitchen, cranky and too tired to enjoy the entire day

The section I prefer is the ‘Get Ahead’ and it’s this that ensures that I look forward to Christmas day knowing that the preparations done on the days and weeks leading up to Christmas will have enabled me to enjoy the day along with the rest of the family.

Yes, there was a time, usually around the 1st Dec when I placed Delia’s Christmas cookbook in the Kitchen work top and started my Christmas marathon…finally crossing the finish line about 3pm on Christmas Day exhausted and cranky….with around a dozen jolly relatives sitting at the table.

It is with great joy that I am happy to announce that those days are long gone. The food is much the same but the frenetic Christmas morning preparations have changed……low maintenance has top bill in my kitchen

The’s so much preparation that can be done in advance to take the make Christmas dinner stress free and now is the time to decide on that ‘Get Ahead’ cooking. Over the years I have learned that Christmas dinner, no matter how glorious and enjoyable is just another dinner and that some sensible and realistic planning will bring a good result to be enjoyed by all the family.

My turkey has been ordered and is currently a happy bird walking around the farm at St Brides Poultry. By Christmas Eve it will be ready for the oven the next morning, buttered, streaky and stuffing in place.

This week the sausages will be wrapped in bacon, the stuffing will be made and both will be frozen. Next week I will buy the cranberries and make cranberry sauce, breadcrumbs will be frozen for the bread sauce I may even par boil the potatoes and freeze them on the tray ready for roasting on the day.

A baked root vegetable mash of parsnip & swede or carrot and sweet potatoes …….will be made in advance, frozen and then defrosted overnight, other vegetables such as sprouts or carrots will be prepared on Christmas Eve, all ready for cooking next day.

Starters apart from soup are always cold, usually smoked salmon, prawns or pâté and apart from the pâté it can be quickly organised on Christmas morning.

Deserts are also made in advance, especially Christmas pudding and if like me you make enough there will still be one left from last year. There are no trifle lovers in the family so the other desert will be Sticky Toffee Pudding, a real favourite with my boys. This can also be made and frozen in advance or made about 2 days beforehand.

For me at the end of the day I will happy if we all sit down to a well cooked tasty meal and enjoyed some good family time, bad jokes and even a few games. If I’m still awake at 8pm then I know that the preparations have paid off.

Deliciously Different….Borders Biscuits Christmas Box

November 29, 2012 By Rachel Leave a Comment

Christmas is coming and there’s nothing quite like the festive season to be deliciously different with food and that’s exactly what Scottish company Borders Biscuits have called their Christmas box…..’Deliciously Different’ biscuit collection.

With food gifts becoming increasingly popular this new Christmas gift tin contains a fantastic selection of quality cookies and shortbread type biscuits and will be ideal as a gift on its own or as part of a gift basket.

The inspiration for the Deliciously Different collection came from desserts and this gift box includes 6 melt in the mouth varieties. It is a great selection with biscuits to suit every taste and after eating these it is easy to see why Borders were awarded Cake and Biscuit Company of the year at this year’s Excellence Awards.

Reviewing these biscuits was as the name says, so ‘Delicously Different’. From the lighter fresh taste of the Lemon Soufflé Cookie, the subtly tangy Chocolate and Orange Shortbread, Strawberry & Cream with lovely chewy pieces of strawberry and a creamy taste, to the rich Black Forest Cookies that really taste like Black Forrest Gateaux, Toffee Apple Crumbles with toffee that cracks in your mouth and a lovely sugary toffee flavour and finally the Chocolate & Walnut Brownies that really do taste like fresh walnuts. Fantastic textures and flavours and all those different little desserts in a biscuit!

Very often the Christmas biscuit selection from the supermarkets and large manufacturers are presented in enticingly festive tins but fail to live up in flavour or quality. The Borders gift tin delivers what it says on the box….what you see is what you get, both in the taste and appearance of these truly great biscuits.

Borders biscuits have 31 varieties with 3 ranges, Classic, Outrageously Tasty and the featured Deliciously Different range. They are available in all the major supermarkets and the ‘Deliciously Different’ Christmas box is one of the items included in John Lewis festive hampers and is also available on line at Debenhams. The box retails at £7.50 and will make a most welcome Christmas ‘foodie’ present.

Capricorn Goats Cheese Challenge

November 16, 2012 By Rachel Leave a Comment

Ethel the goats challenge

Although the food I cook is wholesome, healthy and tasty it could never be described in any way as ‘fine dining’ The test for me is when my boys or my guests clear their plates and say they enjoyed the food.

It was therefore with some trepidation that I accepted the invitation from Ethel the Goat at Capricorn Goats Cheese to take part in her Goats Cheese Challenge.

Ethel’s Invitation

‘To celebrate my love of cooking and my hometown, I’m launching a national search for goat ally scrumptious recipes using ingredients from Somerset.’

My cooking tends to be low fat as much as possible so I was pleased to read on the Capricorn Cheese website that goats cheese is lower in cholesterol than cows milk as it has smaller fat globules, it’s just as rich in calcium and excellent source of protein.

The Capricorn goats cheese has a lovely creamy texture and the more it matures the creamier it gets and it is the type of cheese I like to cook with rather than have it cold.

Given my liking for warm goats cheese my recipe therefore had to include cooked cheese.

Peppered goats Cheese Salad with a warm Cider and Pancetta Dressing.

Serves 4 as a starter

Cheese

2 100g Capricorn goats cheese

1 tbsp crushed black peppercorns

Croutons

8 thin slices of ciabatta

Olive oil

Dressing

1tbsp olive oil

65g pack of chopped smoked pancetta

100 ml still cider

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2tsp caramelised onion relish.

For serving

Bag of mixed baby salad leaves

1 dozen cherry tomatoes chopped

In a small pan heat the olive oil over a medium heat, fry the pancetta until the fat starts to crisp. Add the cider, cook for a further 2 minutes and then add the caramelised onion relish and balsamic vinegar. Continue cooking for 2 – 3 minutes until the dressing reduces and slightly thickens. Set aside.

Brush both sides of the ciabatta and grill on both sides until golden. Cover with tin foil to keep warm.

Heat grill on a high setting (around 200 c)

Put the crushed peppercorns on a chopping board, cut each cheese in half through the middle and press the cut side into the peppercorns

Place the goats cheese on a heat proof tray and grill for 2 -3 minutes until the cheese starts to melt slightly. Try not not overlook as the cheese will melt.

Divide the salad leaves and chopped tomatoes between 4 plates. Place a slice of the grilled goats cheese on top and spoon the warm dressing over the cheese and salad.

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